Sorcery: Zombie Spells

Sorcery: Zombie Spells

Creating undead is the trademark of necromancy. Every typical necromancer has at least a single undead servant, usually more. Zombie animates a single corpse, while Mass Zombie does this on a massive scale. Control Zombie seizes control of an animated corpse. Zombie Summoning calls a zombie to the caster.

Sorcery: Necromantic Spells III

Sorcery: Necromantic Spells III

There are many spirit spells in the college of Necromancy, and here are some of them. Affect Spirits allows the subject to affect insubstantial beings. Command Spirit (Type) lets the caster control a spirit mentally. Materialize makes an invisible spirit visible. Solidify makes a spirit tangible. Turn Spirit frightens a spirit.

Sorcery: Necromantic Spells II

Sorcery: Necromantic Spells II

Necromancy is a large college that deals with spirits, zombies, and life force. Animation summons a spirit to animate a statue or another object. Astral Vision allows the subject to see ghosts or other ethereal beings. Skull-Spirit turns a skull into a spectral assassin. Steal Energy drains the victim's FP to replenish the caster's FP. Summon Spirit allows the caster to talk to a deceased person's spirit.

Sorcery: Steam Spells

Sorcery: Steam Spells

Steam spells are the last unconverted spells not only in the college of Water, but in all elemental colleges. Create Steam creates a cloud of scalding steam. Boil Water transforms water into steam, and Condense Steam does this the other way around. Steam Jet and Breathe Steam are scalding attacks.

Sorcery: Water Spells III

Sorcery: Water Spells III

Water college sure is a big one. Dehydrate and Frostbite are spells that do both HP and FP damage. Walk Through Water is a useful movement spell. Snow Jet is a useful spell against swarms and fire elementals. Geyser is an area of effect attack with some neat additional effects. Dry Spring can reduce the water output of a natural spring. Create Spring does the opposite.

Sorcery: Light & Darkness Spells IV

Sorcery: Light & Darkness Spells IV

The College of Light & Darkness has only a few spells left unconverted. Let's fix that. Flash is an area blinding attack. Blur makes the subject harder to see and target. Wall of Light blocks vision and does nothing else. Hide makes the subject harder to find, if he stands still. Sunlight and Continual Sunlight create pillars of sunlight that extend skyward. Mage Light and Continual Mage Light create light sources that can only be detected by people with Magery or Sorcerous Empowerment.

Sorcery: Food Spells IV

Sorcery: Food Spells IV

It's time to finish the college of Food. At least what's left of it in GURPS Magic. Hunger and Thirst inflict fatigue damage. Poison Food deals toxic damage, but only if the victim ingests the poisoned food. Monk's Banquet allows the subject to live with no food for some time. Fool's Banquet creates an illusory feast.

Treasure: Special Materials II

Treasure: Special Materials II

Three more special materials from Pathfinder RPG converted. Abysium is one of the fabled skymetals. It glows, but is poisonous to the wielder. Angelskin is poor as an armor, but conceals unholy auras, which is useful for dark priests, antipaladins, and such. Armor made of bulette plates is not any better than steel, but is prized by the collectors and dwarves in general.

Sorcery: Food Spells III

Sorcery: Food Spells III

More spells for cooks and butchers! Know Recipe is useful not only for cooks, but also for alchemists. Mature is a great way to produce cheese quickly. Season can add some spice to your life. Prepare Game is an invaluable tool for lazy hunters.

Sorcery: Fire Spells

Sorcery: Fire Spells

Most of the fire spells were printed in Pyramid #3-63, where Sorcery was first introduced, but there still are a few missing spells. Let's finish the job. Breathe Fire is a simple jet attack. Burning Death is a curse that makes the subject burn from within (while you can't apply Resistible to burning attacks, HT rolls represent the way to stop Cyclic damage). Burning Touch enchants the caster's hand with fire. Fire Cloud is an area attack. Flaming Armor is a useful buff when fighting grappling monsters, especially in dark caves. Essential Flame is a more powerful variant of Create Fire.

Sorcery: Spell Index

Sorcery: Spell Index

I already have converted quite many spells from GURPS Magic, and while I have them all in a single document, there must be a way to easily find them here, on the blog. So, I decided to make an index of all spells, their source, and links to the posts with their conversions. I'll try to keep it updated.
Vanilla Magic Spell Index is here.
Asterisk (*) marks spells that are changed in the Unofficial Sorcery Errata.

Sorcery: Gate Spells

Sorcery: Gate Spells

Let's convert some Gate spells! Blink and Blink Other are defensive teleportation spells. Planar Summons is a category of generic non-elemental summoning spells. Rapid Journey and Rapid Time Journey are spells that transport the caster in space or time, and after a short delay transport him back. Seek Gate is useful when you want to leave a hostile plane you were banished to.

Sorcery: Time Travel Spells

Sorcery: Time Travel Spells

Since we have teleportation and plane shift spells, we have to add time travel to them. Timeport and Timeport Other allow the caster or his subject to travel in time, respectively. Timeslip and Timeslip Other are the limited active defense versions of the aforementioned spell.

Monster: Umber Hulk

Monster: Umber Hulk

Umber hulk is an iconic D&D monster, appearing in all its editions. It's a big ape-like beetle that lives underground and confuses enemies with its gaze when he cannor deal with them with his powerful mandibles or fists. Many umber hulks have been enslaved by the neogi - a race of eel-spiders - and now serve their master with complete obedience. Add Slave Mentality to such enslaved umber hulks.

Sorcery: Radiation Spells

Sorcery: Radiation Spells

The only unconverted technological spells from GURPS Magic left are the radiation spells. See Radiation allows the subject to see radioactive items and attacks. Seek Radiation lets the caster find radioactive items. Breathe Radiation and Radiation Jet are invisible radioactive attacks. Irradiate irradiates an area. Cure Radiation heals radiation damage. Extinguish Radiation is useful in irradiated post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Sorcery: Metal and Plastic Spells

Sorcery: Metal and Plastic Spells

The College of Technology also encompasses spells of metal and plastic. They are very similar to the existing elemental spells, but we still have to include them in the grimoire. Identify Metal and Identify Plastic determine the type of metal and plastic. Seek Metal and Seek Plastic detect the presence of these materials. Shape Metal and Shape Plastic allow the caster to change the material's shape. Metal Vision and Plastic Vision allow the subject to see through these materials.

The definition of plastic should be noted, as per GURPS Magic: A “plastic” is any artificial nonconducting unliving polymer material. If it isn’t (a) animal, (b) stone/earth/ceramic/glass, (c) water/simple liquid, (d) air/gas, (e) plant/wood (living or dead), or (f) metal, then it’s “plastic.”

Sorcery: Knowledge Spells

Sorcery: Knowledge Spells

Knowledge spells are very common in fantasy, and my conversions are lacking in this department. Let's fix this. Aura is a useful spell that detect magical auras, strong emotions, and even personality traits. Measurement can replace a set of measurement tools. Seek Magic will lead the caster to the closest magic item or active spell. Sense Mana detects the local mana level and its aspect. Test Load is useful when you are not sure if the rope will be sturdy enough to use.

Sorcery: Power Spells

Sorcery: Power Spells

I really did not want to do tackle these spells, but I forced myself to do it. What technomage is complete without spells to manipulate the flow of energy? Well, actually, they do not come up that often. Nonetheless, I find them interesting, but hard to use, because of the energy-power converstion rate and the power values of the various devices. And clever players will probably find a way to abuse these spells. Seek Power located the nearest source of power. Stop Power prevents all powered devices in an area from functioning. Lend Power powers a device with the caster's personal energy. Steal Power lets the caster draw power from a stored power source to regain FP. Propel uses the caster's energy to propel a vehicle (blimey, this spell is very inefficient!). Conduct Power powers a device by taking energy from an active energy source, and Draw Power drains power from an active energy source to empower the caster.

Sorcery: Machine Spells III

Sorcery: Machine Spells III

There are only 3 machine spells left. Animate Machine lets you summon a spirit to possess a machine. Schematic creates a mental blueprint of a machine. Rebuild rebuilds an object from a fragment.

Sorcery: Machine Spells II

Sorcery: Machine Spells II

Let's continue with the machine spells from GURPS Magic! Reveal Function is great when exploring high-tech dungeons. Machine Control allows the caster to take over a machine, while keeping his consciousness in his own body. Machine Summoning is useful when you badly need a car. Machine Speech is useful when you feel lonely on a long car trip.

Magic: Sample Symbol Lexicons

Magic: Sample Symbol Lexicons

GURPS Thaumatology suggests symbol magic as one of the possible flexible magic systems. The caster inscribes symbols on a parchment, an object, traces them in the air, or constructs a symbol spell from the tokens he has, and activates it, producing the intended effects. This is a slow process. Each symbol has a base cost, but the book also provides other pricing guidelines, including just finding the most similar spell in GURPS Magic, taking its casting cost, and adding 1 or 2 points for extra flexibility.

Since I'm preparing for a game where I planned to use symbol magic alongside the vanilla magic and Sorcery, it's a good time to make some sample lexicons.

Sorcery: Machine Spells

Sorcery: Machine Spells

Technomagic is a fascinating way of blending the worlds of magic and technology. Machines are a prime example of technology, so machine control spells are crucial for technomages. Glitch causes something to go wrong. Malfunction disables a machine. Machine Possession and Permanent Machine Possession allow the caster to transfer his consciousness into a machine. Seek Machine allows the caster to detect machines.

Sorcery: Exotic Senses

Sorcery: Exotic Senses

We already have many spells that enhance the caster's senses, like Small Vision or Infravision. But what about more exotic ones? Magnetic Vision reveals magnetic fields to the caster's eyes. Spectrum Vision allows the subject to see the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Radio Hearing is useful when the caster feels bored on a long bus trip. Ultravision allows the subject to se UV light. Electric Vision is useful for mages that work as electricians.

Psionics: Energy Blasting

Psionics: Energy Blasting

Psionic in GURPS is mostly subtle, but this does not hold true for some other systems and media. For example, D&D psions are able to project not only rays, but also area blasts and cones of various energy types. If you want to recreate the "blaster" psion archetype in GURPS, you can create simple attack abilities with techniques that can apply to any of them. Buying them as alternative abilities and using the Skill Adaptation perk to use a single skill for all of them seems reasonable enough. Electricity Ray should belong to the Ergokinesis power, while the rest of the rays - to the Psychokinesis power.

Sorcery: Food Spells II

Sorcery: Food Spells II

Some more food spells! This time most of the spells are based on Control, Create, and Snatcher. Create Food and Essential Food allows the caster to conjure food from thin air. Looking at the spells' costs it seems that only archmages will be able to create food. Distill and Water to Wine are useful for distillers, brewers, and alchemists. Preserve Food is good when your refrigerator is broken. Two months of duration is enough to earn money for a new one.

Sorcery: Food Spells

Sorcery: Food Spells

I always liked the college of Food. Its inclusion intantly made the system feel less combat-focused. While many food spells are useful only in the kitchen, some are quite useful in dungeon delving situations as well. Seek Food lets the caster find edible substances/creatures. Cook allows him to cook the subject found. Decay is useful when you want to spoil your adversary's food. Purify Food is useful when your adversary spoils your food. Test Food determines if something is safely edible.

Sorcery: Making & Breaking Spells

Sorcery: Making & Breaking Spells

I haven't touched this college at all before, so this is a good chance to familiarize myself with it. Awaken Craft Spirit allows the caster to interrogate a craft spirit of a well-crafted object. Clean cleans an area, and Soilproof makes the subject resistant to grime. Find Weakness allows the caster to notice a structural weakness of an object, and Weaken lets him cause damage to it.

Martial Art: Spinemeld Warrior Style

Martial Art: Spinemeld Warrior Style

Skarns are a race from Magic of Incarnum for D&D 3.5. They are proud warriors that have an affinity for meldshaping. Their trademark forearm spines make them dangerous even when unarmed. Skarn society prizes their spinemeld warriors, fighters that specialize in imbueing their spines with incarnum. Let's make a style for them!

Recap: Eggplant Strategy Playtest #1

Recap: Eggplant Strategy Playtest #1

Not long ago I wrote a GURPS-based system for play-by-post strategy games. I made up my mind and decided to run a small playtest game with just 2 players. Here's a short recap and my thoughts on it.

Sorcery: Possession Spells

Sorcery: Possession Spells

Most of the possession spells belong to the college of Communication & Empathy. Soul Rider lets the caster to tap into the subject's senses. Control Person takes over the subject, but leaves him aware. Possession moves the caster's consciousness into another body, suppressing the victim's personality. Permanent Possession lasts indefinitely. Exchange Bodies swaps the caster's and the victim's minds. Dispel Possession can be used to counteract any aforementioned spells.

Sorcery: Fuel Spells

Sorcery: Fuel Spells

Fuel spells, in my opinion, are ones of the most overlooked ones in GURPS Magic. There aren't many of them, but they can prove to be useful, especially in a high TL setting. Create Fuel lets the caster to turn anything into fuel appropriate for his TL. Essential Fuel can improve the qualities of fuel drastically. Seek Fuel is useful in postapocalyptic games, as are Test Fuel and Purify Fuel.